From May 2nd to May 5th, the workshop ‘Application of Earth Observation tools in protected areas in Europe and beyond’ will take place at La Sterpaia, inside the the Regional Natural Park “San Rossore – Migliarino – Massaciuccoli” in Pisa, Italy. The workshop is part of the activities of the H2020 project ECOPOTENTIAL, coordinated by Antonello Provenzale. The background of the meeting is that innovative technologies for Earth Observation and modelling are emerging and European Protected Areas have the opportunity to be at the forefront in their application, such as for demonstrating the value and services their ecosystems bring to society. The main aim of this meeting is to determine what kind of products, tools and capacity building activities developed by the ECOPOTENTIAL project can facilitate the effective use of Earth Observation information in the management of the participating Protected Areas. The second aim for the workshop is to be a seed for the creation of an ecosystem Community of Practice contributing to the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and the GEO Global Ecosystem Initiative (GEO ECO).